Pallas Foundation for National Security Leadership
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 844851289
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2028024234
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International, Foreign Affairs, and National Security N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $466,234
- Expenses
- $636,108
- Assets
- $197,204
- Liabilities
- $16,994
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SUSAN GORDON (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- ANTHONY DEMARTINO (DIRECTOR)
- SALLY DONNELLY (DIRECTOR)
- SUSAN GORDON (PRESIDENT)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To develop educational programs in fields of global and national security policy and practice; including national security policy and strategy, national defense, homeland security, diplomacy, intelligence operations, coalition operations, and alliances and cybersecurity.
What it reported doing in 2025
The pallas foundation aims to foster education and professional development of emerging leaders with an emphasis on underrepresented groups in national security.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 86.9%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -36.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $553K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 9 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.